The Mathews cockatoo or northern sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita fitzroyi'') is a subspecies of the

sulphur-crested cockatoo The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...

. Its scientific name relates to the area in which it was first found, the

Fitzroy River Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

and its common name comes from

Gregory Mathews Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England. Life He was born in Biamble in New South Wales the son of Robert H. ...

, the Australian

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

who first identified it as a subspecies in 1912.

Characteristics

It is white, with a significantly long yellow crest. This subspecies differs from the greater sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita galerita'') in that they have a pale blue eye ring instead of white, the yellow feathers are slightly darker, and the crest feathers are longer.

Distribution

It is distributed between the Fitzroy River and the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary ...

of North Australia. It is also common to Melville Island and some of the larger islands off the northern coast of Australia. During the 1930s the birds were released in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

region, where there is now a considerable population.

References

Mathews cockatoo Birds of Australia Mathews cockatoo {{parrot-stub